“When you’re playing hockey on my birthday that normally means you’re in the second round of the playoffs,” Babcock said. “This year if you’re playing hockey on my birthday it’s a good thing, too.”

If the Wings aren’t playing hockey next week, it will be a bad thing.

A very bad thing.

The end of an era.

The Red Wings have been playoff ever-presents for the past 21 seasons, the longest active streak in any of the four major North American sports.

But will it be 21 years and counting, or 21 years and counted out?

There’s still work to be done before reaching that conclusion.

“Everyone knows what’s at stake,” said Detroit rookie forward Gustav Nyquist, who was still in diapers the last time the Stanley Cup tournament was held and Detroit didn’t earn an invitation in 1989-90.

The equation is simple for the Wings, currently one point out of a playoff spot with three games left in the regular season.

Run the table and they once again get to run with the big dogs in the battle for Lord Stanley’s mug.

Lose even one of those three remaining contests and Detroit’s run of playoff luck may finally run out.

“We all know the position we’re in and obviously as a hockey player you want to be in a position where you control your own destiny,” said Detroit forward Justin Abdelkader, who like Nyquist was diaper-bound the last time Detroit failed to earn a spot in post-season play.

The Wings also understand why they are in the position that they are in, and they blame no one but themselves.

“We feel like we’ve played some really good hockey against some good teams, but at the same time we haven’t been playing really good hockey against some of the not great teams if you look at the standings,” Detroit defenceman Niklas Kronwall said. “We have to do a lot better to get points on a nightly basis.

“We’re in the standings where we’re at for a reason. We have to live in the now and make sure to find a way through it.”

Putting the puck in the net has proven to be Detroit’s Achilles’ heel all season long, but they found a way to light the lamp Monday, scoring three times on the power play.

Damien Brunner, who scored one of Detroit’s goals, was four years old in 1990. Valtteri Filppula, another goal scorer for the Wings, was a first-grader, as was goalie Jimmy Howard, who stopped 34 shots for his fourth shutout of the season.

Many of the Wings may not be old enough to remember the 1989-90 team but they are certain that they don’t want to be associated with what that club didn’t accomplish.

“The reality is the streak’s important because it’s impossible to do,” Babcock said. “All you’ve got to do is look at pro sports, it’s impossible.

“You didn’t know if could keep the thing going but we’ve been able to maintain it. Now, here we are, we’ve got three games left to keep it going.”

Three games to determine whether they will maintain history, or be history.

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